9 Responses to “Drawings from the Notebook of Chris Grant (episode 10):”

Seriously, this blog has degraded in the past 6 months to “We Hate Antawn Jamison” Weekly. Every time I see a few posts NOT about how abhorrent Jamison’s defense is, I see one or two like this. Why don’t we center on how Anthony Parker’s defense is far overrated, how Varajeo can’t seem to develop a good jumper, how Sessions is absolutely lost at the basket when he drives most of the time, and how *gasp* Boobie Gibson has never developed into the player we all thought he
would be. And, out of all those guys, Jamison is probably the most respectful, honest, hardworking player we have out there (and I am only guessing he works just as hard as anyone out there).

Disclaimer: I am not Antawn Jamison. Nor do I want to be. And, I would love to entertain a trade for him to a contender at the deadline (if there is a) this year. But, I won’t hate on him for his shortcomings, as all players have them.

Is your last name Gilbert then? Come on, the team was 19-63 last year, so obviously there was a lot wrong with the team and I applaud guys like Krolik for being objective when analyzing the team. There were some positives this season, such as Sessions’ growth, Baron’s intangibles, Hickson finally rebounding, young players stepping up, and, of course, Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson.

I appreciate an honest breakdown because I can’t see all the games and want to know who is playing well and who isn’t. Yes, I will support Jamison as long as he is a member of the Cavs but it is great to have bloggers that don’t look at everything through Wine and Gold glasses.

Did LeBron James choked in the Finals? Or did Dan Gilbert call in the big guns via a massive investment…

You decide!

@ Alex + Dan:

“Thank you!” and “I see where you’re coming from.”

I would agree that Antawn Jamison has certainly taken his lumps in the last three posts (the timing of which are a little bit coincidental), but I’m not sure that the blog is anti-Jamison over anti-anyone else. Sessions and Parker have certainly taken their lumps, as have, more minimally, Boobie and Andy.

In terms of this DFTNOCG, I actually do kind of worry about hurting people’s feelings (as I am subject to rebuke from my mother whenever I do—she draws derisive cartoons of me and hangs them on the refrigerator), but I’m not really sure how to do this otherwise. Where I’ve ultimately landed is this: I’m hoping the cartoons come across as totally irreverent. Antawn Jamison does seem like a gem of a person (one of the better guys in the league, let alone on the team), and if I thought something like this would actually hurt his feelings, I’d probably go in another direction. In actuality though, what I’d hope is that if AJ ever saw it, he’d laugh; as I’d hope any 35-year-old basketball player who knows he isn’t very good at defense would (a la Brian Cardinal).

While we’re here, let me also take a stab at something else—the crux of all the actual Jamison resentment in Cleveland (however much of it there may be, I suppose, is open to debate):

Antawn Jamison is a symbolic figure. Though most blame LeBron faaaar more than Jamison for the prospective dynasty’s crumble, AJ is basically the misstep that we couldn’t afford to make. He is who we landed at the 2010 trade deadline while just missing out on Amar’e Stoudemire, who probably would have been effective enough to get us over the hump even if LeBron decided to take his foot off the gas (plus, at 6-10 with C experience, he would’ve been a more reasonable matchup for Garnett in the ECSF, and then for Gasol in the end). In a way, Jamison was the straw that broke the camels back. The Cavaliers’ foundations were never sound, but prior they had done an awfully good job of jenga-ing a powerhouse on top of them.

I’d agree with Alex too, that the greatest responsibility of the blog is to be insightful and accurate in a way that more mainstream sites can’t be because they either can’t spend as much time with the team or have those annoying political-type concerns that come along with running multi-million dollar sites.

Okay, so ends the massive and hopefully all-inclusive reply. I’d like to dedicate it to Antawn Jamison, a beautiful man and my cousin’s favorite Cav.

I assume the Buffalo Wild Wings check-writing cartoon is based on the BWW commercials where the patrons of a Buffalo Wild Wings ask for things like “Can you make this game go into overtime?” Dan Gilbert must have asked Buffalo Wild Wings to “Make the Dallas Mavericks win the NBA finals” through some miracle, since the TVs at Buffalo Wild Wings give you the magical ability to request any result in a game that you want.

The Lineup: (Click for Author’s Archive)

Nate Smith is an Associate Editor. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to NE Ohio in 2000. He adopted the Cavs in 2003 and graduated from Kent State in 2009 with a BA in English. He can be contacted at oldseaminer@gmail.com or @oldseaminer on Twitter.

Tom Pestak is an Associate Editor. He's from the west side of Cleveland and lives and (mostly) dies by the success and (mostly) failures of his beloved teams. You can watch his fanaticism during Cavs games @tompestak.

Robert Attenweiler is a Staff Writer. Originally from OH, he's long made his home in NYC where he writes plays and screenplays (www.disgracedproductions.com) some of which end up being about Ohio, basketball or both. He has also written for The Classical and the blog Raising the Cadavalier. You can contact him at rattenweiler@gmail.com or @cadavalier.

Benjamin Werth is a Staff Writer. He was born in Cleveland and raised in Mentor, OH. He now lives in Germany where he is an opera singer and actor. He can be reached at blfwerth@gmail.com.

Cory Hughey is a Staff Writer. He grew up in Youngstown, the Gary, Indiana of Ohio. He graduated from Youngstown State in 2008 with a worthless telecommunications degree. He can be contacted at theleperfromwatts@yahoo.com or @coryhughey on Twitter.

David Wood is our Links Editor. He is a 2012 Graduate of Syracuse University with an English degree who loves bikes, beer, basketball, writing, and Rimbaud. He can be reached on Twitter: @nothingwood.

Mallory Factor is the voice of Cavs: The Podcast. By day Mallory works in fundraising and by night he runs a music business company. To see his music endeavors check out www.fivetracks.com. Hit him up at Malloryfactorii@gmail.com or @Malfii.

John Krolik is the Editor Emeritus of Cavs: The Blog. At present, he is pursuing a law degree at Tulane University. You can contact him at johnkrolik@gmail.com or @johnkrolik.

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